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While most new vehicles sold today are crossovers and SUVs, there’s still a market for luxury sedans, a market traditionally dominated by BMW and Mercedes. But there’s a fairly new and slightly less expensive and just as elegant brand in Genesis, the luxury car division of Hyundai.

Genesis’s G80 midsize AWD sedan is a bona fide contender in this segment. Its has distinctive styling that follows through into the cabin. G80’s front end resembles a pricey Bentley sedan. Its back end with its sloping roofline tails off into a hint of a spoiler on the trunk lid that makes the slit taillights stand out.

Inside, the cabin exemplifies luxury with ultra-classy heated/ventilated front seats that are adorned with diamond shaped inserts on seat bottoms and backs. And the seats themselves are posh, soft and nicely supportive.

Move your eyes from them upward and a 27-inch long digital infotainment display shares the space with the digital gauge cluster that together form a cohesive display that serves a host of functions, features, alerts and much more. It comes with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto connectivity, XM radio and more.

Absent from the console is a handled gear selector for the 8-speed automatic transmission. In its place, is a rotary selector that along with the rotary display controller, forms an attractive layout and ease of operation that is supplemented with paddle shifters. It joins the touch sensitive HVAC controls above it. And below it, a drive mode switch offers Eco, Comfort, Sport and My modes, all of which display on the gauge cluster when selected.

When activating the left and right turn signals, camera’s display on the gauge cluster that are helpful to spot a vehicle or bicycle from sneaking up on the blind spot in the rearview camera. This feature goes a long way in preventing an unforeseen accident. Included as well are rear and front view cameras with overhead views.

Another safety feature is a sensor mounted atop the steering wheel column. It senses if the drivers’ head is turned away from center while driving. It gives out a warning upon sensing this condition.

HVAC controls are haptic touch sensitive, large and easy to view and use. There’s also a phone charger that’s placed on the top front of the clamshell opening console box top. A heated tilt/telescoping steering wheel is especially nice.

Heated back seats are equally as comfy with gobs of leg and headroom with switches located at the rear of the console and on the fold-down armrest. As such, the G80 could easily double as a corporate limo as it’s that comfy and accommodating. When folded down, the rear seat armrest has a pass-through into the trunk area to carry long items as the rear seat backs do not fold.

The trunk area is spacious is rated at 13.1 cubic feet with 42 inches of cargo loading depth. There are integrated bins for small item storage over what would be the rear wheels. Beneath the trunk floor is a space saver tire with an amplifier for the premium Bang and Olufsen audio system. The jack and jack tools are nicely packaged in a zippered nylon case (a class touch).

Shod with premium Pirelli 20-inch tires, G80 is a smooth, quiet, effortless cruiser that even parks itself with controls on the keyfob. Handling too is superior with nary any body lean in sharp, tight turns. It parks easily despite the self-parking feature.

Power wise, G80 gets its grunt from a potent 3.5-liter twin turbo V6 that generates 300-hp and 311 lb/ft of torque for EPA mileage estimates of 15 city, 24-highway mpg. So powered, G80 has gobs of power and in Sport mode, it changes shift points for sporty acceleration and passing maneuvers.

Carrying a base price of $79, 350, G80 came with a long list of safety and convenience features to include forward collision avoidance assist, lane keeping/following assist, forward attention warning, blind spot collision assist, rear cross traffic alert, parking distance assist, parking collision alert, safe exit assist, advanced rear occupant alert and many more safety features that have led to a huge decrease in fender bender accidents. The only item missing is a dash cam integrated into the rearview mirror, a nicety that I would suspect if anybody, Genesis would be the first to offer over it over other carmakers.

With all these features, functions and luxury, the AWD G80 carried a base price of $79,350 with the only extra cost option being VIK Black Paint ($650) and delivery ($1,495) that took the bottom line to $81,495. Yes that’s a lot, but its in line with near-comparable luxury cruisers from Mercedes and BMW.